Spectrometer apparatus

ABSTRACT

An ion mobility spectrometer has several electrodes spaced along its ion source region. Voltages are applied to the electrodes to produce a voltage gradient along the length of the ion source region. By varying the voltage gradient, the residence time of ions in the ion source region can be selectively varied. Typically, the spectrometer is arranged to reduce the residence time in response to a decrease in the amplitude, of an ion peak detected at the far end of the drift region.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/444,950, filed on Apr. 9, 2009, entitled “Spectrometer Apparatus,” now U.S. Pat. No. 8,222,595, granted on Jul. 17, 2012, which is the national entry of International Patent Application No. PCT/GB2007/004050, filed on Oct. 22, 2007, also entitled “Spectrometer Apparatus,” which in turn claimed the benefit of Great Britain Patent Application No. 0620748.4, filed on Oct. 22, 2006, again entitled “Spectrometer Apparatus,” all three of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and all three of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to spectrometer apparatus of the kind having an ion source region arranged to provide ions to an analyzer region.

Ion mobility spectrometers (IMS) apparatus and field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometers (FAIMS) or differential mobility spectrometers (DMS) apparatus are often used to detect substances such as explosives, drugs, blister and nerve agents or the like. An IMS apparatus typically includes a detector cell to which a sample of air containing a suspected substance or analyte is supplied as a gas or vapor. The cell operates at or near atmospheric pressure and contains electrodes energized to produce a voltage gradient along the cell.

Molecules in the sample of air are ionized, such as by means of a radioactive source, an ultraviolet (UV) source, or by corona discharge, and are admitted into the drift region of the cell by an electrostatic gate at one end. The ionized molecules drift to the opposite end of the cell at a speed dependent on the size of the ion. By measuring the time of flight along the cell it is possible to identify the ion. A FAIMS apparatus employs a transverse asymmetric field to filter ions.

Examples of IMS apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,051,832, to Bradshaw et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,623, to Turner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,652, to Taylor et al.; United Kingdom Pat. No. 2,323,165, to Bradshaw; U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,624, to Spangler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,079, to Machlinski et al.; U.S. Pat. Application Publication No. 2006/249673, to Breach et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,495,824, to Atkinson, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

In some cases the sensitivity of such apparatus may not be sufficient for reliable detection. Also, the range of analyte concentrations over which an spectrometer apparatus can respond accurately is limited. Depletion of the charge on the reactant ion within the ion source region can cause the apparatus to saturate. This makes it difficult accurately to estimate analyte concentration.

It is accordingly desirable to provide alternative spectrometer apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a spectrometer apparatus of the above-specified kind, characterized in that the spectrometer apparatus is arranged selectively to vary the residence time of ions within the ion source region.

The apparatus may include an arrangement for establishing a voltage gradient in the ion source region, the variation in residence time being provided by varying the voltage gradient. The arrangement for establishing a voltage gradient preferably includes a plurality of electrodes spaced from one another along the ion source region. The apparatus may be arranged to vary the residence time in response to detection of ions, and may be arranged to reduce the residence time in response to an increase in amplitude of an ion peak and to increase residence time in response to a decrease in amplitude of the ion peak.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a spectrometer apparatus having an ion source region arranged to provide ions to an analyzer region, characterized in that the spectrometer apparatus includes an arrangement for applying a voltage gradient along the length of the ion source region and for varying the voltage gradient in response to detection of ions at the far end of the analyzer region.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of identifying chemicals in an analyte substance including the steps of subjecting the analyte substance to ionization for a selectively controlled and variable time, subsequently measuring the mobility of the ions of the analyte substance, and deriving an indication of the nature of the ions from their measured mobility.

In a first embodiment, in a spectrometer apparatus having an ion source region arranged to provide ions to an analyzer region and a gating grid intermediate the ion source region and the analyzer region, a method of selectively varying how fast or slow the ions within the ion source region move toward the gating grid which: controls the passage of ions from the ion source region to the analyzer region with the gating grid; establishes a voltage gradient within the ion source region with an arrangement independent of the gating grid; and selectively varies the voltage gradient within the ion source region to selectively vary how fast or slow the ions within the ion source region move toward the gating grid.

In a second embodiment, in a spectrometer apparatus having an ion source region arranged to provide ions to an analyzer region and a gating grid intermediate the ion source region and the analyzer region, a method of selectively varying how fast or slow the ions within the ion source region move toward the gating grid which: controls the passage of ions from the ion source region to the analyzer region with the gating grid; establishes a voltage gradient within the ion source region with an arrangement independent of the gating grid; detects the amplitude of at least one reactant ion peak in the ionized molecules in the analyzer region; and controls the voltage gradient within the ion source region to decrease the residence time of ions within the ion source region.

In a third embodiment, in a spectrometer apparatus having an ion source region arranged to provide ions to an analyzer region and a gating grid intermediate the ion source region and the analyzer region, a method of selectively varying how fast or slow the ions within the ion source region move toward the gating grid which: ionizes molecules of an analyte entering the spectrometer apparatus through a sample inlet located in the ion source region distal the gating grid; controls the passage of ions from the ion source region to the analyzer region with the gating grid; establishes a voltage gradient within the ion source region with an arrangement independent of the gating grid; differentiates between ions of an analyte and other ions and detects the amplitude of an ion peak in the ionized analyte molecules in the analyzer region; and selectively varies the voltage gradient within the ion source region to optimize the amplitude of the ion peak.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

An IMS apparatus that is constructed and operated according to the teachings of the present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing.

The FIGURE shows the spectrometer apparatus of the present invention in schematic form.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

The system includes an IMS drift cell 1 having an inlet port 2 by which sample air to be analyzed is supplied to the apparatus. The port 2 opens into the left-hand end of the interior of the cell 1 via a selective barrier 6 such as a semi-permeable membrane, or of any other form that allows passage of the molecules of interest whilst excluding the majority of other molecules. Alternatively, the barrier 6 could be non-selective, such as a pinhole, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,470, to Taylor et al., which patent is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Instead of a barrier, the sample to be analyzed may be supplied to the cell 1 by some other interface, such as of the kind described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,277, to Taylor, which patent is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

The barrier 6 communicates with an ion source region 7 including an ionization source 8 such as a radiation source, UV source or a corona discharge. The ion source region 7 also includes means for producing an electric field directed generally axially of the cell 1. The field is provided by a number of electrodes 9 spaced from one another along the length of the ion source region 7 and connected with a voltage supply 10 in a manner to be described later. To the right of the ion source region 7, a gating grid 11, such as a Bradbury Nielson gate, controls passage of ionized molecules into an analyzer region in the form of a drift region 12 formed by a series of drift electrodes 13 driven by a voltage source 16.

A collector plate 14, behind a grid 15 at the far, right-hand end of the cell 1 collects ions passed through the drift region 12 and provides an output to a processor 20, which also controls the gate 11, the voltage supply 10 and various other functions of the system. The processor 20 provides an output to a display 21, or other utilization means, indicative of the nature and concentration of the sample. Usually this is in the form of spectra of peaks of reactant ions of varying amplitudes and widths.

At its right-hand end, the cell 1 has an inlet 30, by which recirculated, cleaned, dried drift gas is supplied to the interior of the cell where it travels from right to left and flows out via an exhaust outlet 31 close to the gating grid 11 in the ion source region 7. Air is supplied to the inlet 30 by means of a pump 32 having an inlet 33 connected to the exhaust outlet 31 and an outlet 34 connected to a molecular sieve 40, which cleans and dries the air exhausted from the drift chamber 12.

The voltage supply 10 controls the voltage applied to the electrodes 9 in the ion source region 7 such as to produce a selectively variable voltage gradient or electric field along the ion source region. This controls the residence time of ions in the ion source region 7. In practice, when no analyte is detected by the collector plate 14, the voltage supply 10 controls the voltage gradient in the ion source region 7 to be a minimum value so that the ions spend a maximum time within the ion source region. In this way, there is a maximum chance of any analyte ions being ionized by the ion source 8.

When the concentration of analyte increases, this causes a decrease in amplitude of the detected reactant ion peak because ionized analyte molecules have a greater chance of losing their charge as a result of collision with non-ionized molecules. The processor 20 signals the voltage supply 10 to increase the voltage gradient or field within the ion source region 7 so that the ions more quickly away from the ion source 8 to the gating grid 11 and their residence time in the ion source region is reduced. By reducing the residence time of ions in this region 7, there is less chance for the charge on ionized analyte molecules to be depleted by contact with non-ionized molecules, so a greater number of ionized molecules enter the drift chamber 12 and drift to the collector plate 14. This increases the amplitude of ion peaks.

The processor 20 may be arranged to identify a particular ion peak of interest and to control the voltage supply 10 so that the field, and hence the residence time, is varied in response to change in amplitude of that peak. Alternatively, the apparatus may be arranged to vary the residence time in response to the amplitudes of a group of several peaks or an average over a part or all of the spectra. Information about the voltage gradient in the ion source region 7 is preferably used by the processor in determining the concentration of the analyte present, in addition to the reactant ions peak amplitudes.

There are other ways in which a voltage gradient could be established along the ion source region 7 without the need for separate electrodes 9. For example, a voltage could be applied between the ion source 8 and the gating grid 11.

The arrangement of the present invention helps to increase the sensitivity of IMS apparatus over an increased range of analyte concentrations, thereby improving its dynamic concentration range.

The invention is not confined to apparatus in which the residence time is varied by varying an electrical field since there are other ways in which the residence time can be varied selectively, such as by varying the effective length of the ion source region.

The invention is not confined to IMS apparatus but could be applied to other spectrometer apparatus such as FAIMS or DMS apparatus, such as described in International Publication No. WO 2008/035095 A1, to Atkinson et al., which is assigned of record to the assignee of the present patent application and is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Although the foregoing description of the present invention has been shown and described with reference to particular embodiments and applications thereof, it has been presented for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the particular embodiments and applications disclosed. It will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes, modifications, variations, or alterations to the invention as described herein may be made, none of which depart from the spirit or scope of the present invention. The particular embodiments and applications were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such changes, modifications, variations, and alterations should therefore be seen as being within the scope of the present invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled. 

What is claimed is:
 1. In a spectrometer apparatus having an ion source region arranged to provide ions to an analyzer region and a gating grid intermediate the ion source region and the analyzer region, a method of selectively varying how fast or slow the ions within the ion source region move toward the gating grid, the method comprising: controlling the passage of ions from the ion source region to the analyzer region with the gating grid; establishing a voltage gradient within the ion source region with an arrangement independent of the gating grid; and selectively varying the voltage gradient within the ion source region to selectively vary how fast or slow the ions within the ion source region move toward the gating grid.
 2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the arrangement for establishing a voltage gradient comprises a plurality of electrodes independent from the gating grid that are spaced from one another along the ion source region.
 3. A method as defined in claim 1, additionally comprising ionizing molecules of analyte entering the spectrometer apparatus with an ionization source located in the ion source region.
 4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the arrangement for establishing a voltage gradient comprises a voltage applied between the ionization source and the gating grid.
 5. A method as defined in claim 1, additionally comprising varying the residence time of ions within the ion source region in response to detection of ions.
 6. A method as defined in claim 5, wherein the residence time of ions within the ion source region is varied by operating a plurality of drift electrodes independent from the gating grid to vary the residence time of ions within the ion source.
 7. A method as defined in claim 5, additionally comprising reducing the residence time in response to an increase in amplitude of an ion peak and increasing the residence time in response to a decrease in the amplitude of the ion peak.
 8. A method as defined in claim 5, additionally comprising reducing the residence time in response to an increase in the concentration of the analyte and increasing the residence time in response to a decrease in the concentration of the analyte.
 9. A method as defined in claim 1, additionally comprising differentiating between ions of an analyte and other ions and varying the residence time of ions within the ion source region in response to detection of analyte ions.
 10. A method as defined in claim 1, additionally comprising identifying a particular ion peak of interest and varying the residence time in response to changes in amplitude of that peak.
 11. In a spectrometer apparatus having an ion source region arranged to provide ions to an analyzer region and a gating grid intermediate the ion source region and the analyzer region, a method of increasing the amplitude of at least one detected reactant ion peak, the method comprising: controlling the passage of ions from the ion source region to the analyzer region with the gating grid; establishing a voltage gradient within the ion source region with an arrangement independent of the gating grid; detecting the amplitude of at least one reactant ion peak in the ionized molecules in the analyzer region; and controlling the voltage gradient within the ion source region to decrease the residence time of ions within the ion source region.
 12. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the arrangement for establishing a voltage gradient comprises a plurality of electrodes independent from the gating grid that are spaced from one another along the ion source region.
 13. A method as defined in claim 11, additionally comprising ionizing molecules of analyte entering the spectrometer apparatus with an ionization source located in the ion source region.
 14. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the arrangement for establishing a voltage gradient comprises a voltage applied between the ionization source and the gating grid.
 15. A method as defined in claim 11, additionally comprising varying the residence time of ions within the ion source region in response to detection of ions.
 16. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein the residence time of ions within the ion source region is varied by operating a plurality of drift electrodes independent from the gating grid to vary the residence time of ions within the ion source.
 17. A method as defined in claim 11, additionally comprising varying the residence time in response to changes in amplitude of the at least one reactant ion peak.
 18. A method as defined in claim 17, additionally comprising reducing the residence time in response to an increase in amplitude of the at least one reactant ion peak and increasing the residence time in response to a decrease in the amplitude of the at least one reactant ion peak.
 19. In a spectrometer apparatus having an ion source region arranged to provide ions to an analyzer region and a gating grid intermediate the ion source region and the analyzer region, a method of increasing the amplitude of at least one detected reactant ion peak, the method comprising: ionizing molecules of an analyte entering the spectrometer apparatus through a sample inlet located in the ion source region distal the gating grid; controlling the passage of ions from the ion source region to the analyzer region with the gating grid; establishing a voltage gradient within the ion source region with an arrangement independent of the gating grid; differentiating between ions of an analyte and other ions and detecting the amplitude of an ion peak in the ionized analyte molecules in the analyzer region; and selectively varying the voltage gradient within the ion source region to optimize the amplitude of the ion peak.
 20. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein the voltage gradient within the ion source region is selectively varied to optimize the amplitude of the ion peak by either: a. reducing the residence time in response to an increase in amplitude of the ion peak and increasing the residence time in response to a decrease in the amplitude of the ion peak; or b. reducing the residence time in response to an increase in the concentration of the analyte and increasing the residence time in response to a decrease in the concentration of the analyte. 